Notes

"The mountain men who lived in the Blue Ridge area were mostly
isolated and kept to themselves, but a threat to their own moved
them to action. A call to arms went out and they gathered at
Sycamore Shoals. On September 25, Colonels William Campbell,
Charles McDowell, John Sevier and Isaac Shelby left Sycamore
Shoals in pursuit of Ferguson. Shelby and Elijah Clarke had
previously skirmished with Ferguson on August 8 at Cedar
Springs.

On September 30, they were joined by Colonel Benjamin Cleveland
and Colonel Joseph Winston. When they reached Gilbert Town,
Major Ferguson was gone. Sometime after this, the seven colonels
had to decide on a chain of command until a Continental Army
general officer arrived. They chose the youngest of them all,
Colonel William Campbell to act as overall commander."
http://www.patriotresource.com/battles/kingsmtn/page1.html

"Capture and Rescue of Benjamin Cleveland

Benjamin Cleveland was captured on the 22nd day of April, 1781,
while on a visit to his tenant, Jesse Duncan, at the lower end
of the Old Fields -- probably the very spot at which the late
Nathan Waugh lived and died. Captain William Riddle was the
leader of the gang which captured him, they having stolen his
horses from Duncan's barn the night before and led them up south
fork of New River into a laurel thicket just above te house then
occupied by Joseph and Timothy Perkins, about one mile distant.

There were six or eight men with Riddle, and when they reached
Benjamin Cutbirth's home the day before, four miles above
Duncan's home, and failed to get any information from him, they
abused him shamefully and left him under guard. Cleveland ran
into the ambush and was taken into the Perkins house, which
stool on the site of the house in which Nathan Waugh's son,
Charles, now resides. (1915) The photo shows the present house
and apple tree in its front under which it is said Cleveland was
sitting when captured. Into this house, Zachariah Wells followed
Cleveland and attempted to shoot him, but that brave (?) man
seized Abigail Walters, who was present, and kept her between
him and his would-be assassin.

Cleveland was then taken up New River to the mouth of Elk Creek,
and thence to "what has since been known as Riddle's Knob." This
is some fourteen from Old Fields and in Watauga County. Here
they camped for the night. But they had been followed by young
Daniel Cutbirth and a youth named Walters, Jesse Duncan, John
Shirley, William Calloway, Samuel McQueen and Benjamin Greer,
while Joseph Calloway mounted a horse and hastened to notify
Captain Robert Cleveland, Ben's brother, on Lewis' Fork of the
Yadkin. Five of these in Robert's advance party fired on
Riddle's gang at the Wolf's Den early the next morning, and
Cleveland dropped behind the log on which he had been sitting
slowly writing passes for the Tories, fearing that when he
should finish doing so he would be killed. Only Wells was
wounded, the rest escaping, including Riddle's wife. As it was
thought that Wells would die from his wound, he was left on the
ground to meet his fate alone. But he survived.

There is still a tradition in the neighborhood of the Wolf's Den
that Ben Greer killed or wounded Riddle at that place soon after
Cleveland's rescue, one version saying that Riddle was only
wounded and then taken to Wilkes and hanged. Indeed, the place
in the gap between Pine Orchard and Huckleberry Knob, through
which the wagon road from Todd to Riddle's Fork of Meat Camp
Creek now runs, is still pointed out as that at which Greer and
his men camped in the cold and wind, without fire or tent, till
they saw the campfire on Riddle's Knob flame up, after which
they crept up to that lonely spot and either killed or wounded
the redoubtable Tory.

Cleveland Hangs Riddle

Soon after Cleveland's rescue Riddle and his men made a night
raid into the Yadkin Valley, where, on King's Creek, they
captured two of Cleveland's soldiers, David and John
Witherspoon, and "spirited them away into the mountain region on
the Watauga River in what is now Watauga County," where they
both were sentenced to be shot, when it was proposed that if
they would take the oath of allegiance to the king, repair to
their home and speedily return with the O'Neal mare - a noble
animal - and join the Tory band, their lives would be spared.
This the Witherspoons agreed to, and returned with not only the
mare, but with Col. Ben Herndon and a party also, when they
captured Riddle, Reeves and Goss, "killing and dispersing the
others."

These were taken to Wilkesboro, court martialed and executed" on
the hill adjoining the village, "on a stately oak, which is yet
(1881) standing and pointed out to strangers at Wilkesboro."
Well, too, was captured and taken to Hughes' Bottom, one mile
below Cleveland's Round About home-place, and hanged by plow
lines from a tree on the river bank, without trial and in spite
of the protestations of James Gwyn, a lad of thirteen, whose
noble nature revolted at such barbarity. But Cleveland's cruelty
was too well known to need further comment, for it is recorded
of him that he once forced an alleged horse-thief to cut off his
own ears with a dull case knife to escape death by hanging - all
without trial or evidence.

Cleveland moved to South Carolina at the close of the
Revolutionary War, where he died while sitting at the breakfast
table, in October, 1806, in the sixty-ninth year of his age.
Cleveland County in this State was named in his honor. He was
buried in the forks of the Tugalo and Chauga, Oconee County,
South Carolina, but his grave with a stone marking it is in the
churchyard of New Hope Baptist Church, near Stauntion, Wilkes
County, North Carolina, according to several recent statements
of Col. J. H. Taylor, the father of Mrs. John Stansbury of
Boone. However, some claim that this is Robert Cleveland's grave
stone. So much for two versions of Riddle's death.

But there is yet another version, for Col. W. W. Presnell, for
many years register of deeds for Watauga County and a brave
one-armed Confederate soldier, still points out at the foot of a
ridge north of James Blair's residence, on Brushy Fork Creek,
two low rock cliffs, between which and the hollow just east of
them stood until recently a large white-thorn tree upon which W.
H. Dugger and other reputable citizens of a past day said
Cleveland had hanged Riddle and three of his companions. Certain
it is, according to Dr. Draper, that "Colonel Cleveland was
active at this period in sending our strong scouting parties to
scour the mountain regions, and if possible, utterly break up
the Tory bands still infesting the frontiers." Others say that
two of these men were named Sneed and the third was named
Warren."
http://www.fmoran.com/wilkes/clevben.html

"Somewhat later, Benjamin Cleveland (afterward famous in the
Revolution), attended by four companions, set out from his home
on the upper Yadkin to explore the Kentucky wilderness. After
passing through Cumberland Gap, they encountered a band of
Cherokees who plundered them of everything they had, even to
their hats and shoes, and ordered them to leave the Indian
hunting-grounds. On their return journey they almost starved,
and Cleveland, who was reluctantly forced to kill his faithful
little hunting-dog, was wont to declare in after years that it
was the sweetest meat he ever ate."
http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/historical/TheCo
nquestoftheOldSouthwest/chap8.html

Notes

"Upon the breaking out of the war of 1812, he recruited a camp
of volunteers at Chinquain Church, Amelia County, Va., of which
camp he was commissioned captain, and after the battle of
Norfolk, Va., was promoted to be major. Soon after the close of
the war, in 1816, he removed with his family to Green County,
Ky., and bought some 700 acres of land, upon which he resided
until his death November 20, 1842. He owned a large number of
slaves in addition to his real estate; but suffered severe
financial losses by endorsing too freely for his friends. For
many years he was colonel in the old State militia."

WILLIAM de TANKERVILLE

1035 - ____

ID Number: I79990

Notes

"CLINTON FAMILY: The family of Clinton is of Norman origin, and
settled in England at the Conquest. They took their name from
the lordship of Climpton, in Oxfordshire.

Roger Climpton or Clinton was Bishop of Coventry from 1228 to
1249.
John de Clinton was summoned to Parliament at the first of
Edward I, by the title of Baron Clinton of Marstock.

His second son, William, was Lord High Admiral of England in
1333, and created Earl of Huntingdon in 1337.

The 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Lords of Clinton distinguished
themselves in the wars of Edward III and Henry V and VI.

Edward, the ninth Lord Clinton, Lord High Admiral of England,
was created Earl of Lincoln in 1572. His successor, Henry,
second Earl of Lincoln, was one of the commissioners on the
trial of Mary, Queen of Scots. Src: White's Directory of
Nottinghamshire 1853"

Rev. John THOMPSON

ABT 1780 - ____

ID Number: I99507

Notes

Moved from Reeds Valley, VA to Carter Co., Ky some time after
1860 to get out of the path of the Civil War. Of his sixteen
children, only two married daughters, Margaret and Malissa,
remained in Virginia.